Threat of Mass Rallies as Plot Thickens Over Amnesty Bill

ByWarangkana Chomchuen

BANGKOK – An assembly of civil society groups has threatened to mobilize rallies across Thailand if the government pushes through a proposed amnesty bill that could open the door for deposed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to re-enter the country a free man.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Anti-government protesters wave Thai national flags during a demonstration in Bangkok on Aug. 18 against former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and an amnesty bill.

The draft legislation has recently been altered in a way that could clear past legal convictions against Mr. Thaksin, who was handed a two-year prison sentence in absentia in 2008 for abuse of power.

Mr. Thaksin, fled the country before the sentence was issued and has spent the last five years in self-imposed exile.

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The amnesty bill at the heart of the protests is backed by the ruling Pheu Thai Party led by current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Mr. Thaksin’s sister.

Should the newly altered bill make it to a final vote, it could spark a fresh round of political chaos in a country frequently mired in street protests.

The legislation is still subject to several rounds of debate in the House and Senate before it becomes law. In the meantime, eight anti-Thaksin groups said they would meet this Sunday to decide the timing of mass street demonstrations planned for early November. The exact time and venue have yet to be announced.

The amnesty bill was first introduced to the Thai Parliament by a Pheu Thai lawmaker in August, prompting anti-Thaksin protesters and supporters of the opposition Democrat Party to take on the streets.

They argued that the bill would eventually absolve Mr. Thaksin of any wrongdoing and ensure that he could return to Thailand without having to serve time in jail.

The Pheu Thai party has repeatedly denied that the bill is aimed to serve Mr. Thaksin, who won election twice and served as prime minister from 2001 until 2006, when a military-led coup forced him from power. Rather, it insisted that the bill would only exonerate people accused of politically related crimes from the time of the military coup to May 2011.

The party’s insistence that the bill would not include Thaksin caused the protests in August to fizzle out, and the bill cruised through the first round of voting in the Pheu Thai-dominated Parliament.

The trigger for the new threat of mass rallies came after a House subcommittee vetting the amnesty bill voted on October 18 to expand the legislation to cover more parties, including those accused of wrongdoing by organizations or committees set up after the 2006 coup.

That includes Mr. Thaksin, whose two-year jail term by the court was a result of investigations by the now-defunct Asset Examination Committee set up by the coup makers.

In addition to finding he had abused his power by helping his wife buy public land at auction, the court also seized assets belonging to Mr. Thaksin in the amount of 46 billion baht, or $1.5 billion, from the 2006 sale of shares in his telecom firm.

“The rewrite [of the bill] is the last straw,” said Suriyasai Katasila, coordinator the Green Politics Group, one of the eight groups planning next month’s rally. “It’s a major deviation from the original version, and it’s an intentional breach of the country’s rule of law.”

It would also set an example that “powerful people can just erase their wrongdoing once they are back in power,” he added.

The decision to alter the proposed law has sparked debate and concern that extends beyond the anti-Thaksin movement.

It’s also likely to upset Thaksin supporters in the Red Shirt movement, since the rewrite could grant pardons to government and military personnel who they view as responsible for a bloody crackdown on the Red Shirt demonstrations in 2010 that led to the deaths of 90 protesters.

A recent poll by ABAC University showed that about 70% of respondents are worried that, should the amnesty bill pass in its current form, it would further deepen Thailand’s political conflict.

“If the government takes advantage of its majority vote to push the amnesty bill, which is now very different from the original version, it will send a signal that the government can pass any law in the future,” said Siripan Nagsuan Sawasdee, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University.

Pheu Thai’s spokesman, Prompong Nopparit, has spoken out in its defense.

“The decision by the legislative subcommittee was based on the [premise] that the law shouldn’t be selective,” Mr. Prompong said in a telephone interview.

Last week, the Thai government agreed to extend the use of a special security law imposed earlier this month to deal with street protests and deter any possibility of prolonged anti-government rallies.

Under that law, some districts that house major government offices, as well as the Parliament, are declared off-limits to the demonstrators.

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